Soon to apply for UK citizenship, (advice needed please) rules changed?

[Terpe]

All applications from 28 October must include both life in uk pass certificate and a pass certificate in English at level B1

I'll post all details and links when I get back to my computer.
You would be well advised to review the application form and the guidance so that you understand what's required.
That 3 year timing is critical. Don't risk non compliance (even one day) UKBA are very strict about that as it's law. They may take a dim view if they feel you tried to circumvent immigration rules.

[Terpe]

All applications from 28 October must include both life in uk pass certificate and a pass certificate in English at level B1

The forum link with all details on this new requirement is here - New UKBA Requirements for Settlement and Naturalisation

That 3 year timing is critical. Don't risk non compliance (even one day) UKBA are very strict about that as it's law. They may take a dim view if they feel you tried to circumvent immigration rules.

Here are the UKBA rules for residential requirements:-

In order to demonstrate the residential requirements for naturalisation you need to:-

- have been resident in the United Kingdom for at least three years (this is known as the residential qualifying period) and
- have been present in the United Kingdom three years before the date of your application and
- have not spent more than 270 days outside the United Kingdom during the three-year period and
- have not spend more than 90 days outside the United Kingdom in the last 12 months of the three-year period and
- have not been in breach of the immigration rules at any stage during the three-year period.

Start of the residential qualifying period

The residential qualifying period will be worked out from the day we receive your application. Most unsuccessful applications fail because the applicant was not present in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the residential qualifying period. You must make sure you meet this requirement before you make your application. For example, if we received your application on 25 November 2005, you would have to show that you were in the United Kingdom on 26 November 2002.

You'll find this snippet of information helpful too:-

What is the date of your application? (Applying by post or courier from inside the UK)
If you send your application form and application fee by post, the date of application is the date of posting. This is decided by the postmark. If the postmark is illegible or missing, the date of postage is taken as being at least 1 day before it is received by us.

If you send your application form and application fee by courier, the date of application is the date when it is delivered to our payment handling service.

[alesypalsy]

The forum link with all details on this new requirement is here - New UKBA Requirements for Settlement and Naturalisation



Here are the UKBA rules for residential requirements:-



You'll find this snippet of information helpful too:-

Hi Again Terpe,

I am really trying to see if there is a way without having to pay another £150 odd out here over 1 day!


Ok so i have now seen that by the dates that my misses arrived in the uk oct 29th 2010, so in order to have her application in on time for that i would have send the application off on thurs 24th of oct 2013 this year, as the 28th of october is a monday ,,,
so legailly i am in the thinking that if we send her application off on the thursday 24th of oct we have applied before the 28th which is when the new rule comes in but her application will not be processed until the 28th,,
we may just skim it,,, any thoughts on this,,,,

i have gone through the tests and the easiest for her i believe would be the Trinity as they only have speaking and listening to go through, the others seem to have a lot of other things to go with them and are lot longer,,, the problem is trinity is a 4 hour drive from us, we have 2 young children, so this is just another pain the bottom for us here now, we were already geared up as having already met the requirements, the government have now (again ) moved the goal posts.

input most invited

[Terpe]

...so legailly i am in the thinking that if we send her application off on the thursday 24th of oct we have applied before the 28th which is when the new rule comes in but her application will not be processed until the 28th,,
we may just skim it,,, any thoughts on this,,,,

Well my first thought is that she's just so unlucky with the timing.
Every factor in the equation is against her.
I do feel the frustrations. I've had my share on my wife's own immigration journey.

Concerning your above idea. You need to read the regulation very carefully.
The rule states:-

If you send your application form and application fee by post, the date of application is the date of posting. This is decided by the postmark. If the postmark is illegible or missing, the date of postage is taken as being at least 1 day before it is received by us.

Means if you post it on the 24th, 25th, 26th or 27th then the postmark is the date of application and her passport will show she was not physically present in UK on the needed day. Yes, it's a real so-and-so but I can't advise you do that. As UKBA themselves warn, that is the major cause of refusal. So they WILL do it.

Because the 28th is on a Monday (the day of new rules implementation) it's not even possible to use a special hand delivery courier service.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of this but you're going to need to resolve the issue of which English Test and which Test Centre and when to do it.
Personally I think if your wife has been in UK for 3 years she will absolutely sail through the required tests without any problem.
Despite the fact that many test providers do insist on all 4 elements (Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening) the UKBA are only concerned with Speaking and Listening.
(read the UKBA news iten again)
Even your wife will fail writing and reading elements will make no difference just as long as she makes the pass mark at Speaking and Listening.

Please do take a look at the IELTS test centre link I provided in post #11 and check out those 62 UK centres. Maybe there's one within reasonable access.

Keep us informed on how you and your wife will proceed. It may well help many others who will follow you.